Aphids

I've been fighting aphids (little plant-sap sucking insects) in the house for months.  They got onto the Waxy Hoya cuttings I rooted in Summer.  I kept wiping them off the infested new leaves, but they kept returning.  Apparently, if you don't get 100% they come back, and maybe they lay eggs in the soil. 

But they seemed to be gone in October when I brought in my planter boxes of lettuces , celery, and basil.  They appeared on the basil 6 weeks ago.  I used Insecticidal Soap spray on them.  That is a standard way of killing aphids.  There didn't care.  I asked at a gardening and one person said "all that gets you is clean aphids".  OK, I did have to smile at that.

But I try to stay organic.  No way am I going to use actual poisons on stuff I eat.

So the next step up was Neem Oil spray (a natural insecticide produced by a Neem Tree.  That is sticky on the surface which makes things pretty hard on aphids, but it also affects their digestion.  And it is harmlessly absorbed in the plants, so when new leaves grow, they are also upsetting to the aphids.

It seems to have worked.  But some plants are sensitive to Neem Oil.  Basil wasn't listed as one, but all the leaves wilted.  I stripped off all the old leaves.  Basil regrows branches and new leaves easily.  So I'm watching them carefully.  First, for any sign of new aphids and second for new leaves.

The essential thing is that all aphids must be eliminated indoors before I start growing new plants from seeds in February!  This is the first time I've had aphids indoors in 30 year, and I sure hope it is the last.